How Sweet It Is
Hi Friends!
A couple of weeks ago, somebody responded to a newsletter, wanted to specifically point out his love for Pre-War and Brass Era and to talk about a couple of things that he hoped could occur over the course of the next several months in those segments. Semantics aside, the general gist was don’t ever count out the classics. Turns out, he was right, he’s not alone and as such, RM Sotheby’s just had a banger of a Hershey sale.
Here’s the numbers (versus 2022 and 2023 for comparison):
RM Sotheby’s Hershey 2024
Sale Total
$16,500,000
Offered
162
Sold
160
Sell through
99%
Top Sale
$781,000
Average Sale
$103,553
Median
$71,500
RM Sotheby’s Hershey 2023
Sale Total
$10,200,000
Offered
137
Sold
125
Sell through
91%
Top Sale
$698,500
Average Sale
$81,445
Median
$50,600
RM Sotheby’s Hershey 2022
Sale Total
$10,300,000
Offered
131
Sold
116
Sell through
89%
Top Sale
$880,000
Average Sale
$88,686
Median
$55,000
The long and short of it is that this is the best Hershey sale that RM Sotheby’s has ever had, just besting their previous high-water mark in 2015.
Now, we’ve seen Lazarus moments here before. When I was hosting Sports Car Market Magazine’s Buy, Sell, Hold Podcast, the sudden resurgence of the high end of this segment back in mid to late 2022 was a constant source of discussion with many of the experts simultaneously confused and excited by what was happening then. The fact is, I think a lot of cars from this era have more appeal to people across wider demographics than many think they do.
Every time I run into somebody who’s kind of a McPherson type prodigy or on the younger end of the spectrum consigning cars for a major auction house, this seems to be what they personally enjoy the most. The reality is, these are interesting cars that were made in interesting ways by people that we’re genuinely taking chances both from the financial side of things as well as the engineering side of things and you can kind of do a lot with these cars out in the world today. They’re eligible for everything and for a lot of more sophisticated younger collectors, this is the next step as these cars still hold significant prestige in and around the hobby. There’s definitely a segment of younger people out there that are really interested in Concours Culture and these cars are at the center and will probably continue to be highly aspirational for restorers and aficionados alike there.
I think this is an interesting segment that’s worth a lot of attention right now. I also think there’s lines where the things that exist above will continue to move up, but I also think there’s a high likelihood that things below that line will go the opposite way. This could also provide for some interesting passages of entry for new and younger collectors though and there’s a high likelihood this helps the segment continue to live on and continue to keep everyone excited.
Again, as the gentleman from a couple of weeks ago pointed out, you can never count out the classics…..
That’s it for this week…
Darin Roberge